Numbers flummox council as police budget decision put on hold

POLICE CHIEF

Confusion over numbers has stalled council’s decision about the police services’ controversial request for a 3.71 per cent budget hike.

After hours of discussion, councillors voted to table Chief Glenn De Caire’s request to a future meeting to seek further clarity about what exactly a “maintenance budget” looks like for the police.

Councillors were hoping to pinpoint the exact amount of a no-frills increase that would maintain staff and service levels without adding to the bottom line.

However, after several numbers for the so-called maintenance budget were discussed at various points in the proceedings — including a 3.33 per cent increase, a 3.54 per cent increase, or a 3.62 per cent increase — council decided to put off a decision.

The delay was approved unanimously, despite concerns from Councillor Terry Whitehead about the optics of hashing out the details in secret.

“It almost appears as though we want to negotiate something behind closed doors instead of having an open discussion,” said Whitehead.

But Councillor Lloyd Ferguson, who first suggested the delay, says some time to reflect will allow cooler heads to prevail.

“This is an opportunity to sit and absorb everything we heard. We need to just collect our thoughts, come back and continue the discussion,” Ferguson said.

Despite the confusion over the maintenance budget amount, several councillors made it clear they couldn’t support the chief’s 3.71 per cent request.

De Caire told councillors his department actually needs a 6.9 per cent increase, as well as 61 new staff members (45 officers and 16 civilians). If councillors were to impose a budget freeze, he said, 86 police positions would have to be cut.

“Hamilton is a very lean policing organization,” the chief said.

But even councillors who have traditionally supported the police — including Sam Merulla and Bernie Morelli — showed resistance to De Caire’s request.

“For the first time in 13 years, I can’t support a police budget,” Merulla said.

Ferguson pointed out that the police budget has grown by 20.2 per cent since 2008, while all other city departments climbed by 13.6 per cent. Ferguson also caused a moment of tension when he asked why the Police Association, the force’s labour organization, has been silent about the need for 20 new officers.

“I’m not going to answer that,” De Caire replied.

However, Mayor Bob Bratina — the only elected member of the police board who voted in favour of the 3.7 per cent increase — was sympathetic to De Caire’s request.

“I would hate to see the most vulnerable among us having to experience less than adequate policing because of percentage points on the budget,” Bratina said.

De Caire repeated his assertion that if council imposes a maintenance budget, it will affect service levels. He says extra staff is needed to help tackle crime spikes in several areas, including fraud and child exploitation.

“We have to go back and look and see what that means in terms of services we have to reduce, defer, or not offer,” he said.

Councillors did not set a specific date for revisiting the police budget.